Montana Territory, America. 1878
Getting out of the town of Kilnhurst had been relatively easy. I'd left my would-be assassin in the bedroom, naked and cursing my name as I jumped out of the window. A little air magic to slow my descent and I landed without a fuss. A moment later, I'd released Valour from the hitching post and was riding her out of town at a steady pace.
It took me a few hours to get to the fort that I'd told Sky to take Sam to. It was a small structure compared to forts in other parts of the country, but placed on top a hill, giving it an excellent view of the land.
Armed soldiers patrolled the walkways above what I was sure would be thick sturdy walls, scanning the surrounding land as the last visages of sunlight died away over the mountains to the west.
One of the guards noticed my arrival as I neared the huge wooden gates, and aimed his rifle in my direction. "Stop," he shouted.
I did as I was told.
"Who are you?" he asked. His gun wavered slightly. Probably new at the job.
"My name is Nathan Garrett," I told him. "I sent some people up here earlier, a woman and a boy. Have you seen them?"
The guard left my sight, and for a brief moment I thought I was just being left outside to wait. I was just about to find another way inside the fort, when the gates swung open and a man walked toward me. He wore the uniform of an army officer, his revolver still holstered at his hip. But he hardly needed the weapon considering he was flanked by five soldiers, all of whom were holding their rifles in a very nonchalant way, instantly proving how concerned they were.
"And you are?" the officer demanded of me.
"As I told your man, my name is Nathan Garrett."
"You sent some people here, a young boy and an Indian woman?" He managed to place a lot of context into that one word. Apparently he was not a fan of the natives.
"They made it here, then," I said.
"Never said that," the officer said with a smug smile.
"Yes, you did. I never mentioned that she was Indian, only that she was a woman."
The smile vanished as if wiped away by the increasing wind that picked up around us. "And who are you to be sending people to my fort?"
I ignored his question "Where are they?"
"I detained them both pending further inquiries."
"You did what?"
"I can't have some Indian spy walking unsupervised around my fort. And when we tried to disarm her, she broke the arm of Lieutenant Burns."
"I don't give a damn what she did or didn't do, get her out of whatever shithole you put her in. Now."
"I am the Captain in charge of this fort, and you-"
I reached into my saddle bag and pulled out a piece of paper. "And here is a piece of paper signed by your president that grants me the rank and status of a Major of the American Army. I outrank you, Captain, now get out of my damn way and get me those prisoners."
I ignored the Captain's gobsmacked face, and rode Valour into the fort itself.
I counted a dozen buildings inside the fort-barracks, a mess room, the quartermaster's storehouse, even a small medical centre, were all easily identifiable. But they all paled in significance, when compared to the large two-story building at the rear of the fort. It was clearly the officers' quarters.
I dismounted Valour and passed her reins to a young boy who came running up to me. "Take her to the stables."
He took Valour away, just as the Captain made his presence known again. "Sir, I'm sorry about what happened back there." He spoke with the displeasure of a man who'd thought of himself as the top rung on a very short ladder, and who'd just discovered that the ladder was only half made.
I folded the letter up and put it in my pocket, taking my time to let the silence linger between us. "Just so we understand each other, Captain. I'd like the woman and the boy released, and then I'd like to have a chat with you and your officers."
The following few minutes were a hive of activity as people ran around following the orders barked out by the Captain. I let myself into the officers' quarters, and tried not to scare a young woman who had been cleaning the dining area.
She quickly made her excuses and rushed away, leaving me alone to grab an apple from a fruit bowl and take a bite.
It took under three minutes for Sky and Sam to be presented. I knew because I'd watched the time pass on a large black grandfather clock beside me.
"That man is an idiot," Sky said, as an army sergeant placed her knives on the table in front of her.
"Yes, ma'am," the sergeant said firmly.
"Was I talking to you?" Sky snapped, snatching up a dagger and placing it in her boot, as Sam pounced on the bowl of fruit like a lion.
"No, ma'am," he almost whispered.
"Be nice, Sky," I said. "What's your name, Sergeant?"
"Sergeant Roberts," he said and saluted.
"Roberts," I stood and offered him my hand, which he took in a firm, confident handshake. "Nice to meet you. Sky's right though, your captain is an ass."
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Of course," I said.
"He's got a blind spot when it comes to Indians. He hates 'em. They killed some friends of his at Little Big Horn a few years back. Never forgave 'em for that. And he wasn't right pleased about 'em before then. It sort of pushed him over the edge."
"Does he know anything about what happened at the Warren Ranch due east of here?"
"I wouldn't like to say, but we've been ordered not to patrol east for a day or two. No reason why. None that I've heard, anyway. Captain Waltham isn't exactly forthcoming with anyone but Lieutenant Burns when it comes to giving orders."
"Those two close?" Sky asked. The weapons on the table had disappeared back to wherever they were stored on her person.
"Thick as thieves as my mother would say. I think Burns is the only one the Captain trusts. Which is a shame as Burns is a first-class shit."
"I got that impression before I broke his arm," Sky said.
"I heard about that," I said. "You wouldn't give up your weapons."
"Wouldn't let the shit grope me is more accurate."
"If that's all, sir," an uncomfortable Roberts said and saluted before leaving the room.
Sky waited until she was certain we had no unwanted ears before talking. "How'd you manage to get the Captain to let us go?"
I pulled out the paper and passed it to her, watching with interest as she read it.
"Is this real?"
"Probably," I said, taking it back. "It certainly comes in handy when dealing with people like Captain Waltham."
"Why only a major? Why not a higher rank?"
"Too high and people will remember you. The rank of colonel is fairly rare, and the day a soldier meets a general is a big deal to some. Something they remember."
"What if you need to get a colonel or general to do what Captain Waltham just did?"
I thought for a second. "You know, it's never come up. Avalon has enough people scattered in high-ranking positions that I can always find someone to help out. And if I can't, well, then I do things a little more subversively than I did to get into this place."
"You're just full of surprises."
"I like to impress. Did they treat you and Sam okay?"
Sam finished chewing and wiped his mouth. "Not very nice food, but that's about it. That captain yelled at me and Sky a bit, calling us traitors."
"Sounds like you had fun," I said. "Where are the chief and his men?"
"In the woods to the north," Sky said. "Arriving with a full accompaniment of native warriors wouldn't have done us many favours. I told them to wait until morning. I was hoping that you'd have found out more from your trip to Kilnhurst."
"There's something going on there, that's for sure" I said. "Sam told me about the monster that killed his friend. Apparently, it's protecting the town, or at least that's how the inhabitants see it."
"It's not protecting them, it's using them," Sky said.
"You want to tell me what it is?"
"It's called a lich."
"Is that what the monster's called?" Sam asked, finally having eaten his full. "I expected the name to be more… horrific."
"Liches are evil in a way I can barely put into words," Sky told Sam. "Hard to kill, too. If you met one of them, Sam, you're lucky to be alive."
"So how do we kill it?" Sam asked.
" You don't. That's why I'm here."
"I think you need to explain exactly what's going on here, Sky," I said.
"A lich is roaming the countryside killing people. As a necromancer, it's my job to make sure that stops.”
"So, who sent you here?"
"My employer. Don't ask for more, because you won't get it."
"Whom does this lich hate enough to do all of this?"
"No idea, I'll ask it when I tear its soul out. In the meantime, we have a problem. I overheard the asshole in charge of this fort say that he wants some men to ride to the ranch and the other fort tomorrow. I think he's involved in all of this somehow."
As if on cue, the doors slammed open and Captain Waltham marched into the dining room with his pistol drawn. "I can't have you walking around saying things like that," he said and aimed the gun at Sky, but he was far too slow.
Sky's hand moved a fraction of a second before mine and Captain Waltham turned into a statue. He blinked twice in what I took to be shock and then collapsed to the floor.
"What did you do?" I asked
"Moved his soul."
No one spoke; I wasn't even sure I'd heard Sky correctly.
"I didn't tear out his soul," Sky clarified. "I moved it, slightly. Do it just right and you cause a person to freeze. It only lasts a few minutes, though."
"How did you do that?" Sam asked.
"Necromancy," Sky said. "The manipulation of the spirit, soul or whatever else you wish to call it. Everyone has a soul. No matter if they're evil, angelic, twisted or otherwise, they still have one. Only the dead don't. If you tamper with the soul of a living person, you can do all kinds of horrible things. Freezing them is one of the more humane. I usually deal with dead spirits or souls just leaving the body, but I'm not without my talents when it comes to the living either."
"So I can see," I said, as I picked up Captain Waltham and carried him to a comfortable chair before depositing him in it. I removed his Army Colt and passed it to Sky.
Captain Waltham blinked again.
"You don't have long," Sky said. "And he can still hear you just fine."
"Captain," I said, my voice calm. "You're going to regain the use of your body in a second, but please don't make my companion here angry. She's not too good at holding back the urge to hurt those who have clamped her in irons, stuffed her in a prison and been generally unpleasant toward her. She's probably tired, too, that tends to make people a little cranky. So, no shouting, screaming, yelling, or general loudness will leave your lips, or I'm going to find the monster that you've made a pact with and I'm going to feed you to it."
"You won't torture me," the captain said, his words slurred and slow.
"Who said anything about torture?" I asked. "I said I'd feed you to the monster. If he wants to take his time, then so be it. Me, I'm not going to get my hands dirty dealing with a piece of shit like you."
I moved him into a more upright position.
"What's your plan?" I asked him. The captain opened his mouth to answer, but before he could speak, I shushed him to silence once more. "Before you start, we know you're involved, so don't bother denying it. You've been told to ride to both the ranch and the fort east of here, where you will find the various signs of violence left behind-blood at the fort and the ranch owner’s body strung up and butchered. You will then cry 'Indians did it' and use the tomahawks as evidence."
"They're savages, goddamn savages. May the Lord burn-"
I punched him in the face with just enough force to shut him up. "Don't bring any Lord of yours into this. You did this for revenge or money. Probably both. So, don't you dare pretend that this was some divine act."
Captain Waltham touched his bloody lip and glanced at his fingertips. "You're going to burn along with them. The righteous will cast your bones into the flames of hell."
I stood back and laughed. It was a full belly laugh, and Captain Waltham's expression slowly evolved from one of anger into one of confusion. "You're an idiot," I said. Fire ignited in my hands. It was only a small sphere, spinning with slow purpose like a planet on its axis.
Captain Waltham scrambled back up and over the chair, ducking behind it.
"As you can see, the fires of hell would have to be really goddamn hot to make me concerned."
I stopped my magic as screams sounded from out in the courtyard. The momentary loss of concentration allowed Captain Waltham to sprint away and up a nearby flight of stairs. A door slammed above us.
"Someone's nervous," I said, as more screams ripped through the air around us.
"Sam, stay back," Sky told him. To his credit he didn't argue.
The two of us moved toward the door and opened it slightly. The courtyard was a battleground. Two dead soldiers lay near the barracks, and even from the distance between us I could tell that their throats were torn out.
There were things moving in the darkness around the buildings. Occasionally another scream would sound out, and then those who had finally armed themselves, or found their nerve, would start firing wildly. Sergeant Roberts ran past us as we stepped outside, and I grabbed his arm. "Is there someplace big enough for everyone that can be barred from the inside?"
"There's a room in the basement. The captain had it built. The doors are reinforced with steel plating. It's big enough to hold a hundred people and there's food and water stored there. The entrance is over in the corner." He pointed off past the officer's building to what I'd assumed was just a storage shed when I'd first entered the fort.
"Get everyone down there, now."
"But-"
"But nothing, get your people in that room right now, or you'll have no one left."
He nodded curtly, with more than a little fear in his eyes, but he was soon barking orders and gathering his men. Sam ran with a large group of soldiers, as Sky and I covered them. But whatever was hiding in the shadows did nothing to stop their retreat.
"How many men did you lose?" I asked once the massive doors were closed and forced shut.
"I'll do a count," Sergeant Roberts said.
"I'm in charge here," Lieutenant Burns snapped.
"Were you even out there? I didn't see you run in," I said.
Lieutenant Burns glanced around at his men with nervous anticipation. I was certain they weren't about to like his answer. "I was in here already, preparing for my men's retreat."
"Well, and didn't you do a good job, too? If the US had more men like you, you'd still be under English law."
I glanced around at our new temporary home. It was mostly a giant open space with a small room at the rear. Through the open door, I could see bags and barrels of food and drink, enough to keep us supplied for some time. There were only twenty-six bunk-beds, and most of those were now taken up with the injured. But there was plenty of floor space for the remaining soldiers to take the weight off their feet and try to come to terms with their new circumstance.
Torches on the wall burned brightly and I could see the holes in the ceiling that supplied the ventilation. There was even a dart board at the far end of the room. The captain had certainly taken his time to plan out everything he'd need.
A massive pounding sounded against the outside of the door, but stopped soon after. "Someone isn't taking the hint," I said.
"I sensed barrens out there, Nate. A lot of them. Ghouls, too," Sky whispered to me.
"We need to protect the captain," Lieutenant Burns snapped to no one in particular.
"Where is he?" I asked.
"Still in his quarters. He needs to be rescued."
A picture of the maid I'd met earlier flashed to mind. "How many have we left out there?"
"We got everyone we could" Sergeant Roberts said re-joining us. "In terms of Army losses, we've lost twenty-two men, thirty are injured and another six are unaccounted for. But there are still civilians who work in the officer's quarters that we couldn't get to in time. There's probably four or five people still inside. What the hell attacked us out there?"
"I'll answer the 'what' in a second, first we need to get everyone from upstairs in here," I said. "Is there any other way to get out of here, besides that door?"
Sergeant Roberts was about to talk, when someone shouted him over and he excused himself to go deal with the problem.
Lieutenant Burns was spending his time yelling at anyone who dared to help the injured instead of rallying to find Captain Waltham. Thankfully, everyone appeared to be ignoring him.
"Sam, can you go help any wounded? I know it's not going to be nice, but we can't have people dying in here if we can help it."
"I'll do my best," Sam said with a forced smile.
"You have taken charge very quickly," Sky said. "But if you think I'm going to be nursing people-"
"I need you to find anyone who had been bitten by a ghoul," I interrupted. "We both know what'll happen to them. We can't have people turning in here. I assume a ghoul bite and barren bite can be told apart?"
"It'll be easy enough to find those who were bitten by a ghoul and not by a barren. You want me to use my necromancy to kill them without people knowing?"
"We can't have panic in here. You're the only one who can kill those infected in a peaceful way. My glyphs give it away and we can't start shooting or stabbing them. I'm sorry to ask this of you."
"Those bitten are already dead, Nate. I'll be doing them a favour. But if you're not back soon, I'm going to find you."
"Deal. But let Roberts know that anyone infected will die. Hopefully, he'll be able to better prepare people for what's going to happen."
I collared Lieutenant Burns as he walked by. "A second exit into the officers' quarters. Where is it?"
Burns shook my hand off. "That's not your concern."
"Do you see anyone else running upstairs? Because if you want that captain of yours back, you'd best point me in the direction of an exit from this place. One that doesn't involve me running a gauntlet through a mob of killing machines."
"In the food pantry, there's a lever beside one of the cupboards, pull it and the cupboard moves. The stairs will take you to the dining room directly above."
"Excellent," I said. "Sergeant Roberts, the men seem to respect and like you, you're in charge until I return."
"You can't do that," Lieutenant Burns whined.
"That slip of paper that says I outrank you, tells me otherwise. And Lieutenant, if you annoy me once more, I will personally throw you out of that door to fend for yourself, clear?"
Lieutenant Burns nodded furiously.
"Great, now go make yourself useful by helping anyone who needs it." I waited until he was out of earshot. "How the hell did he make Lieutenant?"
"Important daddy," Sergeant Roberts said. "I'll make sure he's kept busy."
"I'll be back soon. If he causes you any trouble, shoot him."
"It's not him I'm worried about. What happens if those things get in here?"
"The two slits on the door can be opened to let you see outside, yes?"
Sergeant Roberts nodded.
"Most of what are out there are called barren," Sky told sergeant Roberts. "They can be killed with a shot to the head or heart, just like a human."
"I'm pretty sure what was out there wasn't human."
"That's true, but they die just as quickly once they're reminded of it."
It didn't take long to get through the pantry and up the hidden stairway to the officers quarters. Finding the civilians help took far longer, mostly out of a desire not to make too much noise. But eventually, I found them, four women and a man, all of whom were huddled together in a corner of the large kitchen. The man swiped at me with a butcher's knife, but it was easily avoided and he was disarmed without further incident.
"Please don't kill us," one of the women said with a thick French accent.
"I came up through a secret stairway from an underground room, all of the soldiers are down there," I said. "You'll be safe there."
The woman translated to the other women who nodded with enthusiasm.
I stopped by the front entrance and motioned for the others to continue as I glanced into the courtyard beyond. Men shuffled about without purpose. They moved with a slightly unnatural step-it was as if they were unsure they could restart if they stopped moving. They were the barren, and there were dozens and dozens of them. A mixture of army soldiers, still in their uniform, and ranch hands. These were the missing people from both the other fort and the Warren ranch.
The two bodies I'd noticed dead on the ground earlier were being devoured by several of the barren. They tore apart the flesh and snapped the bones as if they were eating a chicken at a banquet.
I hurried after the group into to the dining room, and opened the secret door that sat behind a moved cabinet, which I'd pushed away from the wall when I came up earlier.
"Is there anyone else left up here?" I asked. "Apart from the Captain?"
Three of the women and the man shook their heads and entered the tunnel, but the fourth woman, the same who had spoken earlier, paused as she stepped past me. "There are two children. The Captain keeps them in his room."
"What?" I asked with far too much anger. "Why didn't anyone mention this to me before?"
The woman flinched back as if I were about to strike her. "None of the men know, apart from Lieutenant Burns. I was sworn to secrecy. They threatened to have me executed for treason if I spoke of it. Captain Waltham says they're Indian spies; he's interrogating them. Lieutenant Burns brought them in about a week ago."
I pointed down the path. "Go find Sergeant Roberts and tell him that I'm up here and going to find these kids. If you happen to see Lieutenant Burns, please feel free to shoot him."
The woman’s eyebrows rose in shock.
I walked away without telling her if I was joking, mostly because I was pretty certain I wouldn't be able to lie convincingly and say that I was.
Moments later, I was standing to one side of the Captain's room banging on the door. "Either you open it, or I will."
A rifle round shot through the wood exactly where my head would have been if I'd been in front of the door.
A quick glance through the hole told me that the captain was alone in the room. I placed a hand on either side of the doorframe and increased the air pressure around it, crushing the wood, until the door buckled and collapsed under its own weight. I immediately grabbed the remains in a bubble of air as they fell inward and flung them into the room beyond, slamming into the captain like a… well, like a door being slammed into a human at near hurricane speeds. I was almost certain it hurt, and from the moaning noise creeping out from under the reshaped wood, I was more than likely right.
"You should have opened the door," I said, pushing a heavy trunk, which had been used as a barricade, aside and stepping into the room, which apart from the trunk was devoid of any other furniture.
The captain moaned and pushed the pile of wood off of him as he reached for the rifle. I picked up the weapon and emptied it, tossing it through the open doorway. "The children, where are they?"
"Spies."
I kicked him in the ribs and he yelled in pain.
"They were caught running from Kilnhurst." He tried to push the remains of the door off him, so I stepped on it to apply a little more pressure, which caused him to wheeze.
"They found out about the lich," he said breathlessly. I removed the pressure and allowed him to continue. "I had to keep them away from everyone. Couldn't let them go running back to their friends."
"And you couldn't kill them. You couldn't risk their bodies being found. Two dead native children showing up would cause you a few problems."
"Are you going to kill me?"
I kicked the wood aside, and dragged him to his feet. "That sort of depends on how much help you give me in finding those children."
"They're behind the wall there." He pointed behind me. "I've been keeping them inside a hidden room to make sure no one discovers them. The door can just be pushed aside."
"Good to know," I said and launched the captain through the wall with a crash, that was accompanied by the screams of children. I suddenly felt very bad about using the Captain to open the door for me. It probably hadn't helped their nerves. Bits of plaster and wood rained down over the floor and I waited for the dust to settle before stepping over the prone form of Captain Waltham, and into a small room that held two beds, a small table and two buckets. Two children, a boy and a girl around ten or eleven years old, sat at the end of the room, huddled together in a corner.
"I'm Nathan," I said softly, crouching down to their height.
The boy stared straight ahead, never making eye contact with me. There were marks on his sleeveless arms. Little circles of burnt skin. I pushed down the anger that bubbled inside me. "Can either of you speak English?"
"I can," the girl said.
"Good, I'm here to get you to safety. Some bad people have arrived at the fort. We need to get away before they get inside this building."
"He's bad people. He hurt my brother." she motioned toward the captain, "when my brother wouldn't tell him what he wanted to know."
"I won't let him hurt you every again. Will you tell me your names?"
"I'm Tala," she said. "This is Wapi."
"Let's get you both out of here. We'll talk more once you're safe."
She spoke to her brother in a whisper as I stood. I turned to check on the captain, and was surprised when he slipped a blade into my stomach. He twisted the weapon and pulled it out as I staggered back.
"You're going to die in here," he said and grabbed a clearly terrified Tala, dragging her through the ruined door and into the hallway.
Wapi stared at the dark glyphs that erupted over my skin, as they did their job of healing me, using my own spilled blood to fuel the magic. The knife hadn't been silver, so it didn't take long before I was able to get back to my feet. Captain Waltham had failed to kill or stop me, but he'd succeeded in making me very angry.
"We're gonna go get your sister back, now," I told the young boy and, even though he couldn't understand me, something in my tone must have told him all he needed to know, because he nodded and walked with me out of the room without pause.
The captain's yell from the room at the end of the hallway easily confirmed where he'd taken Tala. They would have a clear view over the courtyard, which meant that anyone trying to follow them into the room could get Tala killed simply by the captain opening the window and throwing her out to the waiting hoard of monsters.
My options weren't great. Take Wapi to safety and leave his sister to the captain's insanity, or keep him with me and risk the barren gaining entry to the house before we could escape.
I'd just decided to get Tala before leaving the house, when a single barren reached the top of the stairs at the end of the hallway, next to the room where the captain and Tala were.
The barren, its skin grey and oily, glanced up to where I stood, and made a noise more akin to an animal than a human. Wapi took a few steps back as the monster started slowly toward us. Within seconds it was moving at a full run, barrelling toward us at a speed that you'd never have thought possible for something dead.
I raised one hand and a thin jet of flame left my index finger, striking the husk in the forehead. The dead monster stopped moving almost immediately, a dark black, oil-like substance leaking from its head. It wobbled slightly and then fell to the floor. The fire had incinerated the brain of the barren. They might be dead, but no brain, no motor skills. "It's dead," I said to a still nervous Wapi. He didn't appear convinced. I kicked the barren as I went by, and when it didn't move, Wapi got the idea, but still hurried to join me.
We reached the end of the hallway without further incident, but two more barren were making their way up the stairs toward us, side by side. I readied a fireball, but they stopped moving and collapsed before they could take another step, revealing Sky in their place. A long dagger, with shimmering blue edges and a translucent centre, was in one of her hands, a tomahawk axe in the other. Sky's soul weapons.
"You took too long," she said, stepping over the husks as the weapons dissipated.
I brought Sky up to speed quickly. "We need to get the girl away from that maniac," she said to me after she'd finished talking to Wapi.
"My plan exactly, but you need to keep an eye out for anything coming up those stairs."
The long dagger reappeared in her hand, and, after Wapi pointed at it, she caught me staring. "Haven't you ever seen a soul weapon before?"
"Not often," I admitted. Soul weapons were a necromancer's abilities in weapon form. It didn't harm the physical body of whomever it hit, but it actually caused injury to their soul, killing them without ever leaving a mark.
"You ready?" I asked Sky, who moved Wapi so that he was stood behind her.
As much as turning the door to ash might have given me a sense of satisfaction, it would also get Tala killed.
But any plan I had was forgotten when the window inside the room smashed and someone screamed. I slammed a force of air into the door’s hinges, and kicked the door open. Inside the room, a ghoul sat on the windowsill, his long fingers around the throat of Captain Waltham, who was holding onto Tala's arm tightly as she struggled to escape his grasp.
The ghoul glanced over at me, smiled and jumped out of the window, dragging Waltham and Tala out into the cool night air.
I darted to the smashed window and watched in horror as the ghoul, now standing on the roof of the nearest building, threw his captives away with a casual move of his arm.
Captain Waltham crashed into the hard ground and was immediately surrounded by husks, eager to be fed once more. Tala landed awkwardly, rolling toward the centre of the courtyard. But at least she was free of Waltham's grip, as the barren began to tear into him. The sounds of torn flesh and crunching bone accompanied his screams as they filled the night.
"Two minutes," I said to Sky, as I climbed onto the sill. "You make sure that entrance to the underground room is open in two minutes."
Sky glanced behind her, as glass smashed downstairs. "Looks like I have a few barren of my own to deal with," she said. "You'd better make it ten."
I dropped from the window to the ground outside, using air magic to knock a nearby barren from his feet. I sprinted toward Tala who was being surrounded by barren. She’d grabbed a cavalry sabre and was waving it toward her advancing attackers. Captain Waltham's screams had gone silent, but the barren around him were still deep in feeding. It hadn't been a good death, but I couldn't bring myself to feel sorrow for his fate. He'd brought it on himself.
Tala kicked out at a nearby barren, driving it back slightly, but they'd smelled a fresh meal and wouldn't be so easily dissuaded. A blast of air magic caused three barren to tumble away, arms and legs flailing; it would have been comical if they weren't covered in the blood of their previous victims.
I knelt beside Tala. "Can you get to that door over there?" She followed my hand as I pointed toward the main entrance to the safe room, fifty yards away.
Tala shook her head. "I hurt my foot."
I didn't have time to examine her injuries and deal with the quickly encircling barren. "Ten minutes might be a problem," I said mostly to myself.
"I don't want to die here," Tala said softly.
"Me neither," I assured her. "Tala I need you to crouch down and close your eyes until I tell you otherwise. Can you do that?"
Tala nodded and quickly assumed the position, her hands tightly over her eyes.
I drew a throwing knife from its home on my belt, and waited until one of the barren had gotten just close enough. I sliced through one of my palms, slapped my hands together and then slammed them into the dirty ground. The effect was immediate. The earth cracked open slightly and fire exploded upwards until it had made a complete circle all around Tala and me.
"You can open your eyes now," I said, my hands pressed firmly into the ground. "Try not to touch the fire."
Tala opened her eyes wide, a mixture of wonder and fear flickering through them. "How?" she whispered.
"Magic." The orange fire glyphs and the black glyphs of blood magic swirled around one another. "But it takes a lot to use this much."
Dozens of barren waited just outside the fire's reach, but something inside them needed to get to us, and no danger was too great. They began walking into the fire one at a time, only to become completely incinerated before they'd taken more than a step. The circle of flame was a yard thick in places, ensuring that nothing could get through unscathed. But every time a barren died in the fire, it took more power from me to maintain the integrity of our only means of surviving until that door was opened.
"Are you okay?" Tala asked, after what felt like a lifetime of pouring a huge amount of magic out of me.
I nodded slowly, but daren't speak lest my concentration wavered for even a second. Which is all it would take for Tala and me to be overrun. I knew I couldn't keep it up; using such a strong magic for any longer than a few minutes, four or five at the most, took a tremendous toll on a sorcerer. I doubted more than three minutes had passed, and I was already forcing myself not to give up, despite how my body was aching for me to stop. A fifth and sixth barren hurled themselves at the fire, and I a felt a cold bead of sweat run down my neck.
"You need me," a voice said from deep inside.
"No," I whispered. "I don't."
"You need to let me free. You need to give yourself over to me. Otherwise you and the girl will die."
I hated that it spoke the truth. "I will not give myself over to you."
The voice almost seemed to sigh. "I wonder if all sorcerers are as stupid as you. I am the living embodiment of the magic inside you, and I need you to continue to exist. I wish you no harm. Do we really need to have this conversation again?"
It had a point. My whole life, I'd been told that giving into the magic would turn a sorcerer into a nightmare, a being of unparalleled power and evil, in equal measure. When I used too much magic for too long, the voice came to me, begging for me to embrace it, to allow us to become one.
"I know what you're thinking, but I can't merge fully with you. Those marks on your chest make it impossible."
"You'll make sure that Tala gets to safety."
"Of course, I'm not a monster. No matter what you may think."
"Deal then." I braced myself, and expelled as much magic into the wall of fire as I could manage, until I felt myself slipping, until I could no longer stop myself and it became second nature to allow the magic to flow freely for as long as it wanted. Until I began to feel like I was a passenger in my own body. Until the nightmare inside of me had taken control.